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Hello!

So I recently bought some space wolves from a buddy of mine. It's really just the general starter set with some thunder wolf cavalry but I was reading the books and there's so much variety with space wolves I'm not sure where to go.

What I saw in the formations that I liked was the firehowlers and ancients of the fang formation. But I was wondering how viable that was because when I mentioned it I was told I should play with thunder wolf cavalry.

That fast assault theme with general support troops coming down in drop pods is what I like as an idea though and I think the dread sights are cool but if they're completely unviable I'll decide on something else.

Any other general tips or hints would be appreciated?

TWC and Wulfen are broken and amazing. The rest is all kind of mediorce.

Mediocre as in I can still play it.. it just isn't great for try hard WAAC players or I'll be crushed every time if i play other stuff?

Wellcome to the pack, comrade!

So, Space Wolves are currently in sort of a weird spot in the game. Most of what they can do is done better by Space Marines, not because the stock units are better, but just because vanilla Space Marines have access to more formations that allow for better niche use of whatever that Space Marine player wants to do. What Space Wolves have on their side is a unique couple of rules that aren't exactly 'Better' than Chapter Tactics, but aren't worse either, and a bit of unique gear access.

Oh, and they also have Thunderwolf Cavalry and Wulfen, who are two of the strongest Melee units in the game due to their high number of attacks, speed, and access to S10 AP2 in volume - Most armies struggle to get a lot of S10 AP2 in close combat outside of using special Psychic Powers or with expensive Indendant Characters, but thanks to Thunderwolf Cavalry and Thunderwolves in general, we have access to lots of base S5 that can be doubles into a truly devastating volley of attacks.

TWC and Wulfen are both amplified by deathstar builds, of course. Just taking a single unit of TWC without any characters attached is by no means overpowered, and is going to provide a strong but not WAAC squad that is fun to use.

Space Wolves also have lots of other fun things that no other armies can do. If you like Psykers, taking five Rune Priests in a Wyrdstorm brotherhood is a ton of fun - Give one of those Rune Priests the Helm of Russ, and he has access to a power that will get around 25-30 S7 hits that Ignore Cover. This attack absolutely devastates anyone relying on Jink saves or who has light armor for protection, and your other four Rune Priests are still good psykers that can buff up the rest of your army or launch other psychic attacks.

Drop Pod Assault lists are not exactly your forte, unfortunately. It was much better in our last codex, where we could get a ten-man squad with CCWs and two Plasma Guns in a Pod for 190 points, but now if we want two Plasma Guns in a pod it costs 195 points, and if - Russ forbid - You want those CCWs back, it's going to cost you an extra 20 points, bringing the total cost up to 215. With the CCWs we were able to reliably ward off counter-assaults, making our defensive abilities notably better against many armies, but since we got notably more expensive in order to match the same damage output, it's just not something that we can reasonably do. (Especially since other Space Marine chapters can just take a single Special Weapon and then a Combi-weapon on their sergeant, then throw on the Imperial Space Marine and get a Plasma Pod that has greater shooting output for a mere 130pts. It dies quicker, but man is it much, much more efficient by comparison.)

If you're going to go model-heavy, I would recommend using Rhinos over Drop Pods. Power armor doesn't provide as much protection as it used to, and those rhinos can be used to block movement or Line of Sight once the Grey Hunters get out. Plus, if you're using the Ironwolves formation, you can still cross the board in a single turn.

What he said.

I usually play a lot ot wulfen and thunderwolves, 10 of each at least, but only beacuse I don't like SM in general, especially their vehicles, and only want to bring the typical space wolves stuff. They're also the two best units available, and the wulfen murderpack buffs both.

Hooowwwwdy!
...yeah okay, that was a lame welcome.
Welcome to the Space Marines that hit harder and drink harder than EVERYONE.
Look around what you might be up against and have a look at their strengths and weaknesses.
One vs one Space Wolves can make a list to tackle anything, tournaments limit the Wolves down to a much, much smaller number of options - sadly a lot of the remaining options revolve around alies and deathstars, psychic buff then bum rush.
There are a small number of lists that can stand up on a tactical level, mostly you'll be using Champions of Fenris and Curse of the Wulfen supplements to build around.
Get your paws on -
-> Champions of Fenris
-> Curse of the Wulfen -Sons of Russ
-> Start Collecting! Space Wolves starter kit.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Firehowlers are the best on a flavour level but ATSKNF and Fearless are so common their howl trick is usually irrelevant.